False Realities: A new life
by Alhovar
Summary: Yoshika is happy to be together with her friends again in the 501st. But when a man suddenly appears to her calling her a candidate, her whole life changes when she wakes up in an unknown place and, later, finds out what has really happened to her and the world she once knew. An AU to Strike Witches. First part takes place a little bit after the movie.
1. A new reality and an unknown dive

**AN: This is my first fanfiction that I've uploaded which I thought was at least… decent enough to upload. There might be some grammar errors here and there or maybe an excessive use of some. I wouldn't be surprised if I missed anything while editing and revising due to how long this first chapter is.**

**But I'll say this right now, I don't see myself as a good writer. The beginning might be boring, so, to those reading this, just give this story a chance. Just say what you think about the fanfic in the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Strike Witches or any other property I may reference. The original content is owned by me, everything else outside of that goes to their original creators. This disclaimer will remain on this chapter so it won't be repeated in other chapters.**

"As of today the Strike Witches are officially reformed." Yoshika felt a smile curling on her lips.

"Strike Witches, return to base!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Yoshika really missed Minna saying that line from her days in with the 501st. That line just seems make her feel like she had achieved in helping the defense against the neuroi.

As the 501st flew back to base, Yoshika had this weird chill go down her spin. That's when she felt the wind's force weaken until it ultimately stopped to nothing.

"Huh?"

She was flying with her strikers on. Surely she'd be feeling the wind blow against her face, right?

The young witch looked around and suddenly found that she was alone, "Hello, guys? Anyone?"

She backtracked her way and saw that the 501st and Shizuka her were frozen stiff. They were all frozen in a leaning forward position as if they were still flying. Mio's plane propeller was frozen and so did her hair that danced in the wind.

"What is going on?" She asked herself.

"Shizuka?" Yoshika called waving her hand in Shizuka's face.

"Shizuka… mph!" Yoshika tried shoving her but Shizuka was stiff as a rock.

"Isn't this repetitive?"

Yoshika had blinked and a tall man dressed in a suit was standing in front of her. In mid-air!

"Eh?!"

The man had deep tan skin. Long black hair that went passed his collarbone, bright emerald green eyes, and black leather shoes. His suit looked like a standard black suit that of tux, but his dress shirt was a reddish, purplish color. His tie was dark grey and he wore a black glove on his left hand.

"The standard Hero: a strong willed person, wishing to do the right, honorable, and noble actions and bring justice to the world. Such a character belongs in a fantasy. So does this national truce of this world. Then again, the wrong man in the right place can make a big difference. The right one if lucky, same goes with a persons actions."

His voice was deep and had many attributes to it, strong, mysterious, and somewhat welcoming.

"Worlds have secrets for a reason, candidate. Seeking them out too early and or prematurely can cause a big ruckus."

Yoshika's strikers then suddenly vanished. Gravity did its course and pulled her down to Earth. She screamed for her life until she was quieted by an invisible surface not too far where she started falling.

"Time is short. I suggest you remove any possible obstacles and gain necessities quickly." The man said as Yoshika got up.

"Time to smell the ashes of a new day, candidate." The said man as he walked away towards the sea and vanished into nothingness.

She then heard a distant voice that was calling her name.

"...Miyafuji… Wake up… "

Yoshika's vision suddenly became dark.

_Who's there? Why is it dark? And why is it so… cold?_

"Wake up… Yoshika Miyafuji, wake up!"

Yoshika weakly cracked open her eyes. She groaned as she lifted herself up to sit. Her whole body felt stiff as a board. She was in what looked like an operating room, an eerily quiet operating room. She was lying on a steel table in the corner of the room, nude.

At least she knows why she's cold; but right now there's a more important matter: where was she?

"Yoshika Miyafuji."

A sudden pain surged through her head once a woman's voice come into her mind.

"I know you have lots of questions right now, but you need to get out of there first before I can answer them."

"Who… are you?" Yoshika clutched her head as she got off the table.

Once she put her feet on the floor however, her legs immediately gave way and collapsed onto the floor.

"Before you leave, you need to find the other witch here on this facility."

"There's another witch here?"

"You need to quickly learn to walk again, and find her. She shouldn't be too far."

"Wait, who are you!?" She screamed.

Nothing but silence, Yoshika grabbed a nearby IV stand and used it as a walking stick to help her regain her balance.

As she slowly made her way towards the doors, she noticed a towel large enough to cover her body hanging near a sink.

She had trouble covering herself with it since she needed to hang onto the stand. After successfully covering herself, the witch limped out of the room and proceeded to walk down the halls of the facility. They were awkwardly quiet. The black colored hallways and the lack of lights made a creepy atmosphere that made Yoshika scared.

The locked doors Yoshika passed had no lights on. Indicating the likelihood that no one was here.

As time went on Yoshika slowly regained her ability to walk and ditched the stand later in her search.

"It would've been helpful if the woman told me where to find the other witch." Yoshika sighed, after having no progress.

"Although, why does she sound familiar? And who was that man?" Yoshika thought, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

She was so deep into her thoughts, however, that she didn't realize she was about to walk into a pair of double doors.

"Ouch!" Yoshika held her forehead in pain, but then quickly noticed that it had barely hurt. It was more or less in comparison with a gentle slap.

"No.240241… "Berserker"?" Yoshkia said, reading the text on the black doors.

Taking this as a possible lead, the young witch walked right through.

Inside she saw who looked to be a huge lab of sorts, filled with tubes and see-through cylinders that seemed to be filled with nothing.

But what brought her most attention was the bigger glowing cylinder on top of a platform right in front of stairs leading to it.

As she walked to the object, she could see a figure of a person inside the pod, becoming clearer as she got closer.

"Barkhorn?" Yoshika was nearly face to face with the pod when she finally recognized her.

Gertrud Barkhorn was nude also inside the pod, which seems to be filled with some sort of glowing liquid.

A mask was put on her face that went from just the top bridge of her nose to the near bottom of her chin. A tube was installed inside the middle of the mask leading to a bigger one connecting all of the others to. Yoshika had no idea what was in those cylinders, but whatever they were must be keeping her alive.

A control panel nearby her showed her current statistics.

Yoshika walked in front of the panel and was surprised that she knew how to operate the system. She first extracted the liquid inside the cylinder and then she opened the cylinder. A hard fall was heard from Gertrud.

"Barkhorn!" Yoshika ran to her comrade's side and tried to wake her up.

"Please wake up, say something." Yoshika pleaded.

In all honesty, she expected a heart-warming reunion or something in between, but what happened was not what Yoshika expected at all.

Gertrud's hand shot up fast and clamped hard around Yoshika's neck.

Shocked by the sudden attack, Yoshika instinctively tried to get Gertrud to let go, but whatever she did, kicks or punches, Gertrud just shrugged them off like nothing ever happened.

Yoshika had a good glance of Gertrud's face: A venomous expression with black eyes and red irises. Along with a noticeable change of her hair color, her hair that was brown is now black as darkness.

"Ahh… huuuhhh… " Against Gertrud's very firm grip, Yoshika's words were nothing but gasps and wheezes.

Gertrud growled as she added her other hand and more intensity in her grip.

Yoshika's face was now red and slowly turning blue. Her movements were getting weaker and weaker.

She could feel her eyes rolling up.

"Ba… ha… hark… h-horn… "

Upon hearing her last name, Gertrud's face slowly relaxed and her grip loosened.

"Y… o… shika?"

Her eyes reverted back to white, but the red color in her irises still remained.

"Yosh… ika?"

Gertrud then finally realized what she had almost done, and she instantly let go of her fellow comrade.

"Yoshika! Oh, god!"

On the floor, Yoshika coughed up a storm as air flew back into her lungs.

"Yoshika, I'm so sorry. I-I-I didn't know what took hold of me… I…"

Gertrud noticed that her whole left arm wasn't flesh and blood; it looked Neuroi metallic.

"What…?"

Yohika's cough calmed, and as soon as it did she also noticed the Gertrud's metallic arm.

"What is this? What happened to me?" Gertrud looked at Yoshika.

"I… uh… " Yoshika asked nervously.

"You two have finally reunited." The woman's voice came back.

"Who's there?" Gertrud half-yelled as pain surged through her head.

"And I see you have also noticed your changes."

"Who ever you are, change me back, right now!" Gertrud yelled.

"That would be wishing to die in my perspective." The woman calmly replied.

"What? What're you talking about? Where am I, and where is my sister! "

"As I said to Yoshika, I'll explain everything-" The woman paused and gasped, "You two need to get out of-!"

Before the woman could finish an explosion destroyed the backside of the room where Yoshika and Gertrud were.

As a result, they were flown back to the other side of the room, where the doors were.

Yoshika groaned in pain when she landed after flying a few feet into the air and falling onto the concrete floor.

"You need to get out of there now, the Warlocks have found you!"

_Warlock? I thought we…_

"I've found you… " A robotic voice said right next to her.

Blue glowing outlines that flowed up someone's body were visible through the debris field.

Then a sound of a loud bang against metal and a later crash was soon heard. Yoshika felt a pair of hands pick her up.

"Yoshika, c'mon!"

Gertrud helped her up and ran down the hallway before purple lasers evaporated the entire room.

The woman helped navigate the witches through the facility to find a way to escape, but all of the routes were blocked off by people with purple outlines with the same design as the one back in the lab and were eventually backed up into what seemed to be a hanger for aircrafts.

_Damn it! If only we had taken action sooner! _The woman thought bitterly, but then someone that had talked to her on her earpiece gave her a bit of hope.

An explosion blew the door to the hanger forwards; causing a cloud of smoke to fill part of the room.

"I need you two to trust me." The woman said, sternly.

"Anything to help will do!" Yoshika yelled.

"On the count of three, jump out of the window behind you."

"What?!" The witches shouted.

"If we jump we'll do nothing but possibly kill ourselves, if we're lucky." Gertrud said, peeking down the window, seeing nothing but water.

"1." The two readied themselves.

"2." Metallic hums and purple V's were coming closer.

"3!"

"This is crazy!" Gertrud shouted.

The witches leaped out of the window, falling down a great height that would surely kill them.

They both tightly shut their eyes, bracing themselves to hit cold water. But met the unexpected when they felt the coldness of metal. They opened their eyes after the rather odd soft impact to see themselves in some sort of ship.

The neon colors of red and black were the most familiar thing to the witches.

"You two can relax now." Another voice said, a man's voice this time.

"You are?" Yoshika remembered hearing this voice somewhere before.

The pilot seat turned completely around to reveal Keisuke Hijikata wearing a black and red military uniform.

But what occurred to Yoshika was that he seemed older in comparison to the last time she saw him, and there was a noticeable long scar going down his right cheek along with some white streaks in his short hair.

"Ironic how this is coming from the workaholic." A girl's voice chimed suddenly.

The two witches looked around the room for the voice, while there was an irritable sigh coming from Hijikata.

"You just keep poking into my business, don't you Deia?"

'Who's-"

"Me!" A short white haired girl poked her head out from below the two witches, scaring them.

"Relax, she's harmless." Hijikata assured, "Unless you consider annoyance as part of her arsenal."

The girl pouted at him.

"Um." Yoshika spoke up.

"Mr. Hijikata, can you explain what's happening?"

Hijikata and Deia looked at each other as if reaching a mutual agreement. Before looking back at the two witches with a sympathetic look.

Deia got out of the floor and revealed her whole body, which looked like a nine year-old girl's body with a black tank top and matching shorts, and sat down next to Hijikata.

"Tell us what you remember first, then when can explain the current events to the amount of that we can."

Gertrud went first and told about how she had barely single handedly destroyed the Warlock. And how she was promoted and acknowledged for her achievement in foiling Maloney's plan and project.

She then told how afterwards was given permission to leave to spend time with her precious sister who, by a miracle, survived her major injuries.

She admitted that after speaking her story, Gertrud felt that all of that seemed like a wishing fantasy or dream.

Then she suddenly gasped.

"Where is Chris?" Gertrud yelled, "Do you guys know anything?"

Hijikata was blunt by shaking his head no. Deia shrugged.

"I see…" She said, with her head down.

"Wait. Where are we going?" Yoshika asked.

"Tell us your story first, then we'll explain." Hijikata reminded Yoshika.

Yoshika went into detail about her memories. About joining the 501st and all of the time and events there. But then she went into detail about the humanoid neuroi and the Warlock. Which caught a spark of attention in the two listeners. Yoshika explained the events that occurred and went deep into explaining what happened afterwards.

Liberating two neuroi hives from two different countries. Losing her magic then suddenly regaining it. However, when Yoshika told how she woke up from her dream brows were raised; for Hijikata and Deia, confusion; for Gertrude, astonishment.

"Yoshika," She started, "did the man have bright green eyes? Long hair, and wore some sort of tuxedo?"

"Y-yeah… " Yoshika said, surprised, "How did you know?"

"He appeared in my dream also. At Chris' birthday party."

The Witches were debating on the mysterious man until there was a sudden beeping noise.

Hijikata reached and pressed a button near, what seemed to be, the steering gear.

"This is Hijikata."

"Ah, then that means you've got the precious cargo, correct?"

"Yes."

"Alright, prepare to dock. It's good you went to get them, sir."

"Yes! Finally home!" Deia yelled, stretching in her seat.

"And I see your partner is still bothersome to you as always." The radioman joked.

"You have no idea."

After releasing his finger off the button, Hijikata went directly to a nearby locker and brought out black tank tops and the same matching shorts' that Deia has.

"Put these on. We'll escort you to someone you know."

No arguments there; finally, they were going to get some answers. They put on the clothing, but it had felt awkward for the two when wearing shorts after not wearing any pants for almost their whole lives. They were about to meet Hijikata until Deia stopped them.

"Here, it'll attract less attention."

Deia handed them two dark robes. Both witches considered the possible scenarios of why they were given robes before reluctantly agreeing to put them on. The two witches put on the hoods and met up with Hijikata

"Stay quiet and stick close to me."

The four walked onto a circular platform in the back of the room. Hijikata pressed a button on the nearby stand and they started descend.

On the ground, they were met with an average sized man who had short blonde hair and brown eyes. He also wore the same outfit as Hijikata, but the difference was that he wore a black T-shirt and big headphones around his neck.

"Yo!" He greeted the four.

He dug his hand into his pocket and fished out a folded piece of paper.

"Here are your next orders, courier."

Hijikata had only touched the paper when the man came closer and whispered in his ear.

"Athena told me to say that we may have found "her."

Hijikata's eyes widened, this was unexpected news. Especially after just picking these two up; Yohiska caught his small astonishment when she saw him jump a little.

"Are you sure?" He whispered back, sternly.

"It's uncertain, but she says it's most likely. That's why you're first picked for the mission."

"I see." Hijikata said, reverting back to his normal voice.

"Listen, I know you're working hard to find her but… y'know… take it easy once in a while."

"After we get "her."

The man sighed in defeat. He then noticed the hooded witches.

"Are these two it, the precious cargo?"

"Don't say anything." The man took that as an obvious yes.

"Don't worry. Athena wants peace and quiet when meeting them. And… uh… wouldn't want her to get mad." He said rubbing the back of his neck.

"I mean. You've seen how mad she can get."

The two witches wondered who and what kind of person this Athena person is, especially when angered. Both had their own different Athena's in mind.

"Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I? My name is Daniel Strider. Most people call me Dan or Daniel when not at work. Though, I prefer to be call either of the two."

Then there was a buzzing noise coming from his pocket. Dan dug his hand in and brought out a black rectangular device.

"Is that a job notice?" Hijikata asked.

"No, it's my break." Dan said, putting the device back in his pocket, "I'll see you guys later!" He shouted while walking away.

The four continued to their destination, led by Hijikata and Deia. Their escorts, Yoshika and Gertrud, were surprised to see how big and busy this place was.

Especially after passing by a map that showed the whole entire complex, if this place can be called that; according to the map, there's an entire world underneath where they are! Yoshika and Gertrud were speechless.

"I guess you two deserve some sort of explanation after seeing that, huh?" Deia said, but her voice seemed to more of an echo or at least more transmitted.

The witches turned to look at Deia, who was grinning at them.

"What?" She said, without moving her lips. Causing the witches to lose their minds.

Deia now started laughing at their bewildered faces.

"We're speaking via telepathy." Hijikata said.

"I don't have any ounce of magic either, if you're wondering. I'll leave that to Athena to explain that to you two. But, where we are right now is a place we named Argatha and, to put it bluntly, we're underground, deep underground, inside the Earth."

Yoshika and Gertrud took time to process the information they just learned.

"Do you know how impossible that sounds?" Gertrud asked.

Hijikata was about to respond, but then there was a ding and the elevator doors opened.

"Ah, were here."

The witches continued to walk with Hijikata and Deia until they stopped at a black door, which soon suddenly swung open.

"After you two." Deia said, bowing like a gentlemen.

The witches obliged and walked in. Their escorts closed the door behind them.

The room they were in was huge, like standing in a stadium, illuminated by red lights and floating screens. In fact, half of the room was a huge platform and the other half was a sideways glass dome.

There were multiple people along the edge of the platform waving their hands, moving the floating screens at fast speeds and talking on their earpiece microphones. But the busiest was the person, a woman by the shape of the figure, in the middle of the row.

Whatever the others were doing must've been small work because the woman was moving bigger screens in the near the back of the room into what seems to be files.

There were only moments where the people will change from moving screens to typing on a illuminating keyboard in almost fast seconds, the woman in the middle included. She typed five documents in a matter of minutes.

"I never get used to seeing what the distributors do." Deia said. Hijikata nodded in agreement.

"Ahem, Athena." Hijikata said.

The middle distributor turned her head at the sound of her name. She looked at the watch on her wrist before saying.

"Everyone, its eight minutes before break. I have pressing matters to attend to, and we've already fulfilled the quota for today. Any of you guys want an early break?"

Those in the row considered before shrugging and shutting down their terminals before stretching in their seats.

The red lights disappeared and normal lights illuminated the room. In the light, the distributors were revealed to be pre-teens; consisting in a mix of males and females.

Yoshika and Gertrud didn't know what to think anymore, the impossibility of an entire world underneath the Earth or how fast and organized the work those kids did.

"Wait, that voice… sounds really familiar." Gertrud said.

Athena walked towards the four. Her features showed more clearly as she moved closer and closer in the light. Her hair was black with red highlights with charcoal colored eyes. She wore a female black and red naval top with matching colored shoes, but the notable feature was how tired she looked; the bags under her eyes helped create a more exhausted image.

But, something about her seemed too familiar. Yoshika and Gertrud couldn't just put their finger on it.

Athena happily smiled at the two.

"Yoshika," She said looking at Yoshika then at Gertrud, "Trude. It's been so long."

When that nickname hit their ears the two finally realized just who Athena really is.

"Minna?" Gertrud reached out for her long friend with tears swelling in her eyes, "Is that really you? You look so… different."

Minna smiled at her friend before hugging her.

"The same can be said for you."

Minna grabbed strands of Gertrud's hair and held in her view.

"You have black hair now."

Gertrud checked her hair just to make sure it wasn't only those strands.

"And you also have red eyes."

"H-how?"

Minna walked Gertrud to a nearby coffee table and gesture Yoshika to follow.

"What I'm going to say… is… well… I can't describe what you might feel. Shocking is what it will be the most. Maybe too shocking." Minna said, in a saddened tone.

"But first off, explain what you remember before up to this point." She said.

Just like what they did with Hijikata and Deia, the two went into detail of their memories of before, and how they woke up. Minna patiently, yet stoically listened respectively while they talked.

"I see, let me ask a question really quickly: Why do you think both of your memories are different even though you both were in them?"

The two didn't know what to say at that moment. Their lives were suddenly changing to comprehend any of this, almost too suddenly.

"No answer, then? Well, it's simple. Trude," Minna looked at Gertrud, "You've always wanted to spend time with your sister haven't you? But joining the military had prevented you from doing that. Even when she became hospitalized."

"And Yoshika," Minna said, now looking at Yoshka, "You've always wanted to do the right thing. Making the most honorable actions to help those in need. That was what you wanted, right?"

Yoshika nodded, slowly taking and processing all of this in.

"But, there is one thing that our memories have in common: The Warlock."

Minna tapped something on her wrist and floating screens burst out. The screens spun and floated around the table area in a steady manor. The two witches saw the Warlock in the screens and themselves. They already knew what Minna was going to talk about.

"The Battle of Warlock." Minna stated.

Screens floated in the center of the table show the 501st in battle with the machine.

"We, the 501st, remember defeating this war machine."

The pictures then shifted to the sad aftermath of the battle, causing a massive epiphany to the two.

"We didn't win the battle of the Warlock. All of us were brutally shot down, as you can see." Minna said, deadpanned.

Gertrud saw her picture. She had seemed to have crash-landed, after getting shot down. Leaving her body battered and bloodied with cuts and bruises. But the most notable injures were her missing left arm and the big gash going diagonally across her chest made by a large wood chip.

Gertrud gripped her arm at the sight of this picture.

Yoshika's epiphany however, was almost too much for her to handle. Shirley, Lucchini, Erica, Mio, and Sanya. The confirmed pictures of the dead 501st were too much, as were their battered bodies. But, then, she saw her picture and her whole world crashed.

"Yoshika." Minna said, slowly, "Because of your desperate hope to save everyone,"

The slightest glimpse caused Gertrud to bring her hand to her mouth. She would be lying if she said she didn't puke a little bit at that moment.

In the picture, Yoshika had laid in a large burned crater. Or at least what was left of her charred remains. Anyway of confirming it was her was the remains of the blue sailor scarf she wore with her outfit.

"You took the most damage out of everyone and surrendered when all hope was lost." Minna finished.

Yoshika was now no longer there. With a broken expression she got up and walked away from the table.

Minna nor Gertrud, didn't exactly bother, but were just too sympathized to stop her.

"Shouldn't we… stop her?" Deia suggested.

"It's best if she learns to accept and deal with the truth, now." Hijikata said, rubbing his jaw.

"But, isn't this too much for her?"

"How do you think we felt when you guys first invaded?" Hijikata remarked, causing Deia to shut up.

Yoshika's epiphany was very grave that she didn't acknowledge where and what she was doing.

Eventually, Yoshika had somehow found her way out of the underground and onto the surface. The surface she was born on that was now partially stained with a red sky.

Where she stood had a normal blue sky, but far across the ocean, on another continent, red painted the sky mixed with black, ominous clouds.

Yoshika fell onto the rocks of the beach of where she is at, where she finally let her tears gush out.

She didn't know how long she sat there, nor did she care.

"_This is just a dream. Just a bad dream."_ She told herself.

"Yoshika." Yoshika flinched at the mentioning of her last name.

She slowly turned to Gertrud who had Hijikata,Deia, and Minna behind her.

"C'mon, get up." Gertrud held out her hand, and reluctantly Yoshika took it.

"Listen, I don't like this as much as you do. But, well, I mean… y'know… let's make it through this together, alright?"

"Okay." Yoshika said, still depressed.

"Minna showed me our room earlier, I'll take you there." Gertrud said kindly as she led her though the hidden pathway that had been open.

A huge door disguised as a boulder was right next to it.

Minna was about to follow until Hijikata stopped her, "Are you sure it's okay to not tell those two about "them?"

"Telling the truth at a time like this would be too much. The truth maybe the truth, but this reality is too harsh." Minna responded without hesitation, before walking inside.

"Argatha is about to become a huge stage." Deia said, sighing.

"For once, you said something smart." Hijikata joked before going down as well.

Deia followed him inside with a frown; the door closed behind her.

Gertrud never thought to see Yoshika, the strongest witch, in magic terms, in her unit to be reduced to this.

Then again, Minna had to go through this herself; but Yoshika was the most innocent out of everyone.

The two had arrived at their room and went inside.

"I'll explain more some other day." Minna said, "Until then, get some rest and maybe get to know the layout of this base or go visit Argatha." Minna suggested before leaving.

_Why do I feel there was something wrong with that sentence?_ Minna thought as she walked away.

The door automatically closed. Making Gertrud say, "We are not in the modern days anymore."

Gertrud looked around the room. The room was consisted of smooth oak floors and white painted walls. The furniture seemed to be a mix of Karlsland and Fuso cultures.

"Minna trying to make us feel more at home or upset?" Gertrud said.

The huge oval window in the back showed a big overview of Argatha, which looked similar to the surface.

Big ocean waters and five main continents according to the map on the wall; they appear to be on the continent similar to Fuso.

There was a bunk bed on the left side of the room. Gertrud went and sat with Yoshika on the bottom bunk.

"Do you need anything?" Gertrud asked, in a soft, kind voice.

Yoshika shook her head, no.

"Alright then."

Gertrud was getting off the bed until Yoshika grabbed her arm.

"Can you… sleep with me?" She asked.

She would've said no otherwise, but considering how Yoshika is feeling right now Gertrude obliged.

Once Yoshika curled up into a ball and snuggled her face into Gertrud right arm, she let this whole thing slide.

Gertrud had to admit she couldn't help but be sisterly around Yoshika at this moment. Especially since her and Chris the two have an odd close resemblance. When she went to stroke Yoshika's hair she stopped at the sight of her metal arm.

Gertrud reminiscently looked at her arm, before actually stroking Yoshika's hair. She felt the strands go through her metal fingers and continued doing so until she also fell asleep.

"Chris…"

In her sleep, Gertrud had a dream where she was chasing after her sister, Chris, in a dark misty field. But, instead of desperately chasing Chris for her safety Gertrud was wailing in heated anger, swinging what seemed to be a bladed weapon. Anything that was in the way was either swatted away or violently cut in half.

Echoed screams were heard, but she didn't acknowledge them. In fact, she was acting more wildly than her calm self.

Gertrud was so close to Chris now; but then she was squared in by dark misty figures, losing her progress entirely.

She slashed wildly at them, only to get knocked back after hitting a hard surface on the first swing. This repeated until she heard a muffled scream that sounded like someone yelling her name where she stopped briefly before starting again.

"Stop."

A bright, yet comforting had appeared behind her. Gertrud had to shield her eyes away from the sheer brightness.

As the light came closer, it molded into a humanoid figure of blue light.

"Those you're aren't your enemies."

The figure moved in to wrap Gertrud in its arms. She oddly felt calm and happy at the sensation.

"Wake up."

Gertrud slowly woke up from the dream. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a squared room that had four hallways respectively on each side.

The people in the first rows were witches that had their shields up. They had a look of astonishment on their faces, but she didn't acknowledge that. Nor did she acknowledge that some of the shields were different colors.

Then she felt something in her hand.

She pulled her arm up and heard the dragging of metal. In her hand was a huge sword bigger than her own size.

The blade was long and almost thick as a slab of metal. The edge had a ragged shape, yet was sharp. Anyone would describe its appearance as a chunk of ripped or torn metal. There was no cross guard but the grip was engraved to help prevent the weapon from slipping out of her hands.

Carrying the said sword felt like it was just made for her.

The overall color was black, but parts of the grip were dark grey.

There was red liquid drenched on the blade and dripping onto the metal floor.

Then sight made her become more awake and aware of what she possibly did. If she had a weapon and was not in her room, with the addition of the liquid, what did she do?

Gertrud started checking her surroundings. From what she can see from here to the four hallways, there were big long cuts gashed on the walls.

Wires and pipes that hung on the walls and ceilings were cut apart. And in one of the hallways there was a massive door that had been closed was open by some sort of explosion.

Multiple men and women wearing some form of white clothing with a red cross as an insignia were giving medical attention to some gravely wounded people.

Now she finally put all of the pieces together. The wounded, the damage, and the surprised looks, she had done this.

"Before we jump to conclusions," The people in one of the hallways made way for Minna, known to them as Athena.

"I would like to remind you all that something similar happened when some of us first came here."

Murmur's of 'that's right' or 'yea, but it wasn't as bad this' or somewhere in between those two.

"And you all know what that means."

A few in the crowd grunted, looked down, or averted their eyes away. They didn't want to be reminded.

"She's part one of the populations here. An artificial witch." Minna finished as she crossed her arms.

"What… do you mean?" Gertrud asked, still baffled by her actions.

"You're an product made by _his_ experiments." Minna gripped her sleeves.

"His?"

Minna seemed to hesitate. The way she looked at Gertrud seemed as if she knew what was going to happen next. She glanced at Gertrud before looking away from her.

"Who!?" Gertrud screamed, wanting to know who did this to her.

Minna sighed, more so in defeat, "The one who made the Warlock."

Minna saw the anger paint her face, "Trude, calm-"

"_Him…_" Gertrud said, low and deep, remembering the photos and what he had done in the past.

"_HIM…." _The more she seemed to think about him more it had channeled her anger.

"_HIM…!_"

The atmosphere around Gertrud started to change. Her eyes were slowly turning black and her iris' were becoming brighter to a glowing phase. A red aura outlined her entire body, signifying that her magic levels were increasing.

Her teeth then started to become sharp to a point like a predator's.

"Trude! Calm down, or else you'll go berserk again!"

"_**HIM…!**_" Gertrud's angered voice was now blended in with a heavy and threatening tone.

Suddenly there was a booming wave of air coming from her that caused Minna and the witches in front to tumble backwards.

The aura became brighter to the point that Minna had to shield her eyes

Then all of the sudden the surge of power coming from Gertrud had stopped. Minna looked at her friend and saw that she tired look in her eyes with her arms limping lazily.

There was a pair of arms holding her around her abdomen.

"Being upset won't do anything." A calming voice said, behind Gertrud.

"Relax."

The black in Gertrud's eyes disappeared, and she fell to the floor, unconscious.

Minna was surprised to see that Yoshika was clung to Gertrud. She even had a blissful smile on her face.

"Y-Yoshika." Minna shyly called, moving up to her.

"Yoshika." She called again, this time shaking her shoulder.

Yoshika sleepily moaned and slowly moved up from Gertrud to rub her eyes. When she opened them, she saw the whole scene.

Looking from every direction and taking this all in she said cutely, "What?"

_Line break_

Minna sat with Yoshika, who was caught up of what happened, in her room. Gertrud was sweeting and moaning Chris' name in her nightmare as she shifted constantly on the bed. The sword that she had used sat on the table in front of them.

"I should've said this the moment you two sat down with me in the Distributors quarters."

"Wait, you guys live and work in there?"

"Yes, but we're getting off topic. A rare few of us artificial witches can be dangerous when sleeping."

Minna tapped something on her wrist, like last time, and blank screens came out.

"Like Trude, something similar happened when I first slept after getting rescued."

Minna tapped a file on one of the screens and documents and pictures appeared. Yoshika saw Minna as she was before was in most of them.

Minna tapped one of the pictures and it started to move like it was some sort of movie.

"This video clip here shows what I had done when I was first rescued like you two. The basis of what I had done: caused major network problems and almost overloaded this places' source of power." Minna explained.

"After I woke up the next day in a cell, I realized that my hair had changed and later my eyes. More people were rescued from the opposing facilities and some were brought to the same cell I was in."

Minna then showed more pictures of some the artificial witches here when they first arrived. Some of the noticeable were Marseille, the Star of Africa or former star, and Amelie Planchard, Perrine's former wingman.

"So far, up to today, because negotiations of we're treated equally among everyone else in Argartha, but… "

Minna get up from her seat and walked to the side of the room. Facing the wall, she opened up a secret compartment, revealing hidden keypad inside. Minna pressed a few buttons and a blue force field outlining the whole room appeared.

"To keep things safe, we installed a force field inside the rooms of confirmed or possible nightmare walkers, people like Trude."

Yoshika nodded as she continued to take all of this in.

"When you said people, do you mean…?"

"Yes, not only witches and young females were taken to become artificals, but young males and boys were taken also, hence they are called Wizards or Magicians as the boys called themselves."

"Oh… " Yoshika said.

Then suddenly she remembered how Hijikata talked to her via telepathy.

"Wait, is Mr. Hijikata an artificial also?"

Minna cocked an eyebrow until she understood what she was specifically asking.

"Oh, no."

Minna went and sat back down in front of Yoshika, "He became a cyborg, a person living with mechanical parts inside of him or her."

"But, he doesn't look mechanical at all." Yoshika responded.

"Listen before talking." Minna said, getting tired of getting attacked with question after question.

"Yes ma'am." Yoshika responded shyly.

"Do you remember the Neuroi?" Minna asked.

"Of course, they're the enemy." Yoshika said.

Minna tapped one of the floating screens and brought it on top of the table.

"Not anymore."

She swiped her hand across the screen and it showed men in different uniforms on one side and humanoid neuroi on the other side shaking hands together.

"This picture shows the meeting of truce to the humans and the neuroi four years ago."

_Four years?!_ Yoshika thought that was more important than the fact the human race made friends with aliens that had first invaded their home.

"Um, Minna. A quick question." Minna paused to pay attention, "How long have me and… well how long have me and Barkhorn been sleeping?"

Minna stared at Yoshika in an immersed way to where she seemed to be calculating the evidence as if it were on Yoshika's face.

"I would say six years, seeing how the year is exactly 1950."

"Six years… " Yoshika gasped with a surprised face

"I've been asleep for five, along with Marseille and most of the others here on this base." Minna announced, "But let's get back to the topic at hand." She finished without missing a beat.

"The neuroi made truce to the us once they saw that Maloney and his associates were abusing the privilege they had given them and saw the horrors of the experiments they were doing to their kind."

"So they chose to co-habit with us?" Yoshika asked.

Minna was shocked at what she said and gave Yoshika a stern look, "They chose to live along side us, but I'm not sure we're both willing to go that far, despite how far we have gotten together already."

Yoshika tilted her head to the side.

"Yoshika, you do know what co-habit means, right?" Minna said, giving a parent-like look.

"Um, no?"

Minna sighed, "Co-habit means… "

Yoshika then had as many possible naughty fantasies run through her head once learning the exact definition.

"Oh… " Yoshika said with a reddened face, "My bad."

Minna's face also reddened, "And keep your fantasies under control. Thoughts and memories can sometimes be broadcasted to other people accidently."

Yoshika's already red face darkened, "S-so… that means… "

"Yes, half of the base probably received your perverted fantasies."

Minna coughed to get back into the topic, "Anyway, since we wish to **COOPERATE** with each other, the neuroi decided to make artificial human bodies to keep the divide of machine and human small."

"Oh, so Deia is a neuroi?" Minna nodded, "What happened to her original body?"

"You and Trude saw it already, the ship Hijikata used."

Yoshika's head now began to ache.

"Ugh, can you explain about Mr. Hijikata then can we stop for today?" Yoshika asked, rubbing her head.

"Sure." Minna said, noticing that today was enough for Yoshika, "Hijikata's a cyborg I told you that, but as you can see we didn't use any metal or machine on his body. The R&D people had found a way to strengthen soldiers, if they wish too, by installing a neuroi core inside them."

"What?! But, it couldn't be just any neuroi core, right?"

"Correct. The core chosen for Hijikata was Deia's own mother, his former partner. Technically, she still is alive; she lives inside of Hijikata. And before you ask, yes, some of us Artificals have come in contact with the neuroi installed within us."

Yoshika was now literally struggling to keep her eyes open and holding both of her hand to her head.

"Minna, is it okay if I can see if I'm a nightmare walker?" Yoshika said, completely drained, not giving a damn if she even was one.

Minna gave a long thought before saying, "Fine, but I'll be monitoring you just in case. As I said before, some of us Nightmare Walkers are dangerous."

"Okay… " Yoshika was already walking to the bunk beds.

"Six hours." Minna said.

"Yes ma'am."

Minna left the room, leaving Yoshika to herself. She decided that climbing the ladder was too much work. So, she slept next to Gertrud, disregarding the possible dangers and fell asleep instantly.

When Yoshika opened her eyes later though, she saw a deep blue sky. She moved to sit up and noticed that she had woken up in a field of flowers. She was only wearing a plain white short dress.

"Huh? Wasn't I just…? Minna?!" She called.

Yoshika then heard a noise coming from behind her, it sounded like a dog crying. She looked behind her to see the remains of what looks to be a town. Curious of the cry from earlier, Yoshika walked towards the remains of civilization. As she walked through the streets, she noticed that the design of the buildings and the architecture was more European styled and often saw pubs. She had just stopped at a huge former marketplace in a plaza to think about all of what's happening.

But the cry came again and she walked directly towards it. She saw a big grey dog laid down in front of a well, crying in a puddle. The well had a big crack on the side where the dog was facing, leading the water of the puddle inside. The dog's fur was scruffy and wet. There was an old ribbon tied around the dog's neck, but was barely noticeable due to the dog's mass of fur.

When Yoshika came closer she realized that the debris around the area were actually broken or destroyed toys.

She accidently stepped on one of the toys when trying to get closer, making the dog notice her. The dog ferociously growled at her and placed itself in front of the well protectively.

"H-hey, easy. I'm not here to hurt anyone." Yoshika oddly felt herself calm in this situation.

The dog stopped growling but didn't back down. The animal eyed her carefully as she moved closer to the well.

"What's in ther-" Yoshika was suddenly interrupted by a bark from the dog when she leaned over the well.

Unfortunately, Yoshika had leaned a bit too far in when startled and fell in. She felt water surround her body. Yoshika opened her eyes and saw the light from the top of the well slowly disappear and saw darkness. She was sinking.

On instinct she flailed in the water to swim up for air, but oddly found that she was still sinking to the bottom. Yoshika thought that she would die right here, but then she suddenly realized that she was able to breathe.

She sunk to the bottom and touched down onto the soft asphalt. A ring of light from the top of the well was around her.

"Weird, I'm in water, right? Then how am I able to breathe?"

Off in the distance, she could see a sort of dim light. She wanted to go there, but the area was too dark to walk around in.

A rattle from under her feet had caught her attention. She had stepped on an old lantern that was dug underneath the asphalt. Not knowing why, Yoshika used her hands to dig up the lantern because she felt an indecent feeling that she should take it with her.

Surprisingly, the lantern was in decent shape. The glass wasn't cracked, the whole skeleton was rusted from what it seems and no debris was inside, but there was no candle for her to use. Like she could use one.

"Great. How am I going to-"

_Magic… Pour magic…_ A whisper from nowhere had interrupted her thoughts.

"My magic?"

Yoshika and concentrated and a bright light had came from the lantern and soon dimmed to where Yoshika could see.

"Okay, now… "

Yoshika walked in the darkness, with the lantern illuminating her path. She had walked towards the light until she stopped at a huge painting of a family consisting of two parents and two daughters.

The parents' faces were scratched out for some reason, but not the kids'. They were both smiling and had brown hair and matching colored eyes, although the one on the right seemed older.

Yoshika walked around the painting and continued onward until she found another painting.

This time the kids were in front of two graves. The painting only showed their backs. The little sister was weeping for her dead parents while the older sister seemed to be standing stoically. She was either heartbroken or didn't care that her parents died.

Yoshika continued on only to meet the same thing again. On this painting, the view seemed to be as if someone was standing in the doorway.

The little sister was on a hospital bed and had many bandages wrapped around her body. Many wires and small tubes went up and down her body. The older sister standing next to the bed now seems to be a military officer, still standing stoically like at her parents' graves.

There was scratched writing in capital letters next to the older sister's head saying:

**ARE YOU LEAVING ME TOO?**

"How sad… " Yoshika said, before continuing again.

There were no paintings this time, but there was an old tombstone covered in moss. Most of the lettering was gone due to erosion. Yoshika read what was left readable.

He—

L—es

-h-ne

-ho-

Yoshika was about to continue walking towards the light until a hand touched her shoulder.

_**Not Yet… **_


	2. Awakening and a remembered promise

**To anyone that was waiting for this next chapter I really had to get some things straight in what I have in mind in the story. Plus, looking back at **

**the first chapter I thought I did a really bad job and felt that I had rushed it to get it done. So, I'm now taking things a bit slow (maybe a bit too **

**slow) and I'm really hoping that I can improve.**

**By the way, a small typo from the last chapter: Argatha or Argartha = Agartha**

**I may fix that later, but I kinda lazy so maybe not.**

* * *

Yoshika eyes snapped open from the dream, and sees Gertrud sitting on her belly with her hands just around the skin of her neck; her eyes were not open. Yoshika stayed frozen at that moment due to the fear of Gertrud's hands moving her hands on reflex.

There were loud footsteps from the hall, and the room door opened with Minna rushing in.

"Trude, stop!" Minna yelled in the doorway.

Gertrude's hands and face jerked. Her eyes slowly opened and saw where she was and where her hands were. She immediately snatched her hands away from

Yoshika's neck.

"W-what... what was I just…?"

Minna walked into the room, digging out a bottle of pills from her pockets. Gertrud looked at her for answers, and with that look she also saw how tired she appeared to be. Minna went to the fridge on the far right side of the room and picked out a water bottle.

"Here, hold this." Minna said, giving the water bottle to Gertrude.

Minna opened the pill bottle, got a red pill onto her palm and gave it to Gertrude.

"Take it. It's a drug developed for those like you and me. Don't worry, it's harmless, but its strongly recommend to ONLY taking it once or twice per twenty four hours. How many number of pills daily each day is depended on the person. It removes drowsiness as much as possible, and, if sleep is absolute, loosens the effects of nightmares. No longer sleep walking is an example."

"What happens when taking three?" Yoshika asked curiously.

"Just don't take more than three." Minna snapped back.

Gertrude reluctantly put the pill in her mouth and then washed it down with water. After taking said pill, Gertrude felt rejuvenated, but still a tad tired.

"So, is Barkhorn a certain Nightmare Walker, now?" Yoshika asked, sitting up.

"Correct, regulations would have a non-walker, like you, taken out of this room, but this was debated and finalized to have a non-walker, or walkers, as a roommate in case if the anything happens. I'll some pills delivered for Trude."

"Nightmare Walker?" Gertrude asks.

Minna sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, she'll have to explain that whole history lesson again, "Allow, allow me to inform you as brief as possible."

During Minna's small lesson, Gertrud was very outward in denying that the neuroi had made peace with humans. Minna understood her reasons why, and told her to calm down since Gertrud's magic acting up again because of her anger. Eventually though, Gertrud had seemed to accept the latter later on.

"So...half of the population on Agartha is either cyborg or an artificial?" Gertrud asked.

Minna nodded, "The rest are living in the countries you can see outside the window. All of them are named after our home countries, with the exception of the number two in their names. Speaking of which… "

Minna checked the time on her watch, "Yoshika, would you like to see your family?"

Yoshika's eyes widened, "Mom and grandma… are still here?" She choked out, on the verge of tears.

"Yes, we can visit them later today, when I'm on break. I still have two more hours of work to do." Minna said.

"But for now, get to know the base and, who knows, you might find someone you recognize. Just follow the signs and you'll be fine."

"Okay." Gertrude and Yoshika said.

After Minna left, the two witches separated ways to cover more ground on their own. Currently, Gertrud was in what appeared to be a gym. Men and women were working out on a variety of machines scattered about the room. Mucky humidity and a sweaty aroma were the first to welcome her, but most of the people were avoiding her due to her earlier performance.

"Oh? You're here?"

Gertrud recognized that voice. The tone may have gotten older, but it sounded like she didn't change at all. Gertrud turned to the voice and saw Marseille. She wore a red tank top, shorts, and seemingly comfortable shoes.

Her hair had a darker tint and was tied into a ponytail. Her eyes weren't sky blue as before, they were now amber.

But what Gertrud was surprised to see, was that Marseille didn't seem to have aged much; in fact, she seemed to have only aged two years ahead.

"You look… different." Gertrud said.

"That can be said for you, also." Marseille remarked.

Marseille sat down on a nearby bench, " Though, to be honest, I was expecting you to be shutting yourself in your room after that incident you caused. Maybe shedding a nice waterfall of tears." She said, with a smug smile.

"Hey." Gertrud found the 'waterfall of tears' more relevant then the sudden meeting.

"But, serious talk, I've never seen someone so wild, yet so fluid with their swings with a sword." Marseille said.

"You'd best take note of that, your Nightmare self is ferocious."

"You seemed to have changed also."

"How so?"

"As far a I can remember, you were a selfish kind of person, always abandoning your posts just to go solo on neuroi, back when we were enemies with them,anytime they would appear, and you have a background of always causing trouble growing up." Gertrude recalled.

"Well, that's what happens when you find out that the whole world you thought was real was an illusion, and spent six years adapting in this one." Marseille said.

Then a thought crossed Gertrud's mind.

"By the way, what happened to your family?" Marseille jerked, "Have you seen them, at all?"

Marseille was quiet for the first few minutes.

"Can we please… not talk about them?" She asks.

Gertrude was about to ask "why not?" before realizing she could've possibly already crossed over the boundary limit to the friendship they just started building.

"Alright."

"So," Marseille starts enthusiastically as she gets up, as if she wasn't sad at all, "wanna spar?"

Gertrude was surprised by her offer, "B-but,"

"I'm asking you, not your nightmare self. I'm just wondering if you've gotten any rusty while sleeping for six years."

Gertrude knew that fired look in Marseille's eyes, she knew that she couldn't 'no' even if she wanted to.

Gertrude sighed in defeat, "Fine," Marseille grinned, "but… "

Marseille's smile instantly turned into a frown, "Hey… what happened to you?"

"Huh?"

"The Gertrud Barkhorn I knew was never shy, and never said 'but' like she was self-conscious of herself. Where did that strict, prideful, hardened soldier self of you

go?"

Gertrud sadly looked at her hands, "Dead."

Marseille sighed irritably "Listen, don't let that guilt get to ya. Or else you'll regret it." She finished, mumbling that last part, averting her eyes away briefly.

"…Okay…" Gertrud said.

Marseille grabbed Gertrud's wrists and brought her onto her feet.

"C'mon, let's see if you can still fight."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the base, Yoshika had already gotten lost, despite Minna's advice, and was now wandering aimlessly.

"Geez, Minna didn't say what the signs look like."

She then heard a muffled loud roar of cheer down a long hallway. She shyly walked down the hall with curiosity, touching the wall timidly for safety as she did so. She opened a door to find a odd place full of lockers and strange terminals. On the left hand side, there was a rectangular shaped window fitted horizontally.

Yoshika walked to window and couldn't believe her eyes. Outside was a big huge arena, illuminated by bright neon lights. The stands were high and wide, escalating to thirty to forty feet. She could see people shouting with smiles on their faces, as well as some people giving shady looks as they placed bets to their neighbors.

The window she was peering through was in the inner area of the arena. In the middle is was looked like two people and a big humongous thing - one person was holding some sort of blade, and the other person with their bare hands, with leather gloves shielding them.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Yoshika jumped at the sudden voice.

"YOU HAVE ALL COME HERE TO WITNESS THIS INTENSE MATCH: HATTROI SHIZUKA AND HANNA U. RUDEL VERSUS THIS GOLEM!"

Lights illuminated over the two and the Golem. From what Yoshika could see from this angle, Shiuzuka and Hanna both had their hairs cut, Shizuka's hair was cleanly cut and rested just around the nape of her neck and Hanna's hair was really short in the back - to where there was barely hair touching her neck, but there was a fair amount of hair in the front.

The golem that stood and towered before the two was midnight black, metallic, and bulky enough to where it could rip a house in two.

"NOW… LETS… "

"STRUGGLE!" The crowd roared and finished.

As soon as the crowd said that, a loud buzz blared, and the three charged at each other. Yoshika watched in pure amazement as she watched the two witches worked in synch with each other so well as if they doing a practiced duet. Yoshika was so immersed into the battle that she didn't notice that she had pushed her face flat against the glass. Her mind was blown when she saw Hanna aerial out of the way of a punch the golem aimed at her, and swiftly retaliated by punching the golem's wrist, denting it inward and enabling that hand useless.

"Shizuka!" Hanna cued.

The Fuso witch held up her sword and pressed something on the hilt that caused projectiles to come of the blade consecutively as she ran. She used the golem's arm as a spring and sliced the head of the golem clean off it's body. The remainder of the golem dropped to the arena floor. The crowd gave their gratitude enthusiastically by roaring cheers.

"Wow, those two are amazing." Yoshika commented.

A sudden short screech of metal caused her to jump, and trip on her own feet. She fell back, and hit her head on the ground. Shortly after wincing from the pain, she heard the sound of air pressuring. She opened her eyes and saw a glass door close and trap her inside a secluded place. Yoshika stood and pounded on the door.

"Help! Someone!"

She saw a boy in a reddish, purplish hoodie walk out from behind a row of lockers.

"You! Please, open this door!"

The boy saw her and went to the terminal nearby.

"Yes, please. Open this door."

She saw him tilt his head and push some buttons.

"HMM? IT SEEMS ANOTHER PERSON WANTS TO BE PLACED IN THE ARENA!"

"Huh?"

It just occurred to her that maybe the boy doesn't know how to work the machine. She cursed at herself for her stupidity. Wait, another person?

"NO, WAIT! THIS IS A MISTAKE!" Yoshika yelled in a panic.

Her vision was enveloped in white and found herself on the arena floor. The crowd was quiet.

"Um, that's odd." The announcer, for the first time, wasn't enthusiastic as usual.

People in the crowd were mocking her by giggling and making crude remarks.

"Um…anyway, looks can be deceiving…let the fight commence."

Another person was transported to the arena, a man - wielding a long knife. He appeared to be bald and wore nothing but a white long shirt that had multiple belts tied along the sleeves and a black metal collar that was strapped around his neck. His intense smile and the horrible aura that he gave off frightened Yoshika. She couldn't stop shaking.

Then there was a loud noise. Yoshika felt a sensation in her right leg. She looked down and saw a small hole - pain then suddenly hit her. She fell over, screaming in pain as she grasped her leg. Blood was flooding out of the wound. The man was hiding a pistol in his sleeve. Multiple people in the crowd screamed in the stands, and all of them rushed to the doors.

"Hey, why is this door locked?!"

"So is this one!"

They all found out that all of the doors were locked, including the one in the announcer's stand.

"Damn it! Find a way to contact the outside!" He ordered the staff inside the same room.

"We can't! The phone lines are dead!" A female worker said, holding a phone.

"What?!"

Meanwhile in a locker room, Hanna and Shizuka found the door locked on their side also. Hanna was currently pounding on the door with her fists, and so far there was no dents.

"Damn it!"

Shizuka suddenly gasped loudly and searched through her stuff in her locker, throwing out spare clothes and other items in the process.

"What're you doing?" Hanna asked, bewildered.

"Remember? Athena gave us that small device? She said if anything urgent happened, we use it to call her."

Hanna's eyes widened, she jumped to her locker and joined in on the search.

"Found it!"

Shizuka brought out a small baggy with red words etched across it saying 'Emergency Codec'

A second gunshot was heard. Hanna ran to the window and saw that the man was now close enough to touch Yoshika.

"Hurry!" She yelled.

"I'm hurrying!" Shizuka yelled back, putting the codec in her ear.

The man licked his lips while letting a breath.

"Sorry sweetheart, but he said that I could get out if I could kill you." The man sounded as if he was aroused.

_He?_

The man took the knife and protruded it into Yoshika's stomach. She coughed up blood and more flooded in her mouth as the man continued to stab her.

"Die! DIE! DIE!" He chanted, as he laughed with insanity.

Sound was now slowly getting silent, and her vision was darkening.

"...D-dad…"

A memory was recalled during this moment. It was a beautiful spring day, with cherry blossom petals falling from their trees. The day she made that dear promise.

"Yoshika," Her father said, "you have a great power inside of you. Just like your mother and you grandmother. Promise me that when you grow up, you'll use that power to protect everyone."

"I will! I promise!"

"...Promise…"

The man was about done when she spoke.

"Huh? Still breathing?"

"Promise…" Yoshika breathed out.

She felt a sudden surging sensation spread through her body. A cyan aura surrounded her body; the light from it was grew brighter and brighter to the point to where it almost illuminated the whole arena. Everyone had to cover their eyes, and once the light died down they saw that Yoshika's major injuries were gone. Waves of light, that pulsated from her, spread out through the whole room.

"Wha… what are you?" The man asked.

Yoshika slowly stood up with glazed eyes. The man grunted and shot four shots at her and met the unexpected. Yoshika raised a shield without raising her hands, but the bullets that made contact with the shield dug into it like it was rubber. The bullets bounced back at the man, hitting both his arms and legs, immobilizing his ability to stand or hold his weapons.

Yoshika slowly walked to the man and sat down next to him.

"Heh…so? You gonna kill me?" He laughed.

He and the people in the stands were surprised that she did the opposite, Yoshika gently picked the man's head and placed him on her lap. She placed a finger on his forehead and a light appeared.

"This feels…warm…I feel so…good…" He breathed out.

The man smiled, but insanely like before, he smiled peacefully and closed his eyes.

_**Line Break**_

"What happened here?" Minna question.

An officer behind her said:

"According to witnesses, which was everyone, and to what we can put together, the man somehow snuck out of the asylum and into the arena, bearing a knife and a pistol."

"I can see that." She said, "I'm asking the events that happened here." She said, looking at the unconscious Yoshika.

"I was getting to that, the man shot at her leg shortly after teleporting to the arena, and used that opportunity to nearly stab her to death."

"Nearly?"

"Yes, witnesses say that a cyan colored light appeared and surrounded her whole body. When the light faded they saw that her body had healed and a cyan aura enveloped her body."

Minna went to Yoshika and inspected the top of her right hand.

"Athena, are you listening?"

"Sorry. Yes, go ahead."

"The man had fired four shots at her with the pistol, but were repelled and shot back at him."

"They were shot back? Did she have a gun as well?"

"No. She was unarmed. Witnesses say that the shield that she put up to protect herself was like rubber - the bullets dug in and bounced back out, accurately hitting his legs and hands."

"I see…and after that?"

"She went to the man and placed his head on her lap. A light appeared on her fingertip after she placed her finger on his forehead."

"Hmm," Minna thought through on what she had just heard so far, "and the man?"

"He died, presumably shortly after."

Minna considered everything that had happened, and was silent for a long while.

"W-what shall we do with the Artificial?" The officer asked.

"For now, place her in the infirmary. Have them inform me when he wakes up." Athena says walking away.

"Sir!"

_So many weird happenings after another, first, that anonymous info of the location of Yoshika and Trude, then shortly after, more anonymous info - this time of Mio's possible location? Then this? And that mark on Yoshika's hand, what does it mean?!_

"WHAT"S GOING ON?!" She screamed.

"Minna."

She turned to face a worried Gertrud.

"Maybe you should take a break." She suggested.

Minna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I'm already on break."

"But work and these weird events keep calling me back."

_**In a secluded place**_

"Was that scene really necessary?"

"To end this pointless game as soon as possible, yes."

"Even if its to put these peoples' lives on the line?"

"On the line or not, this game needs to end; your just going to let this happen?"

"I told you my reasons already. But more importantly, I have some advice for you."

"And that is?"

"**Prepare for unforeseen consequences."**


End file.
